Follow the Bouncing Ball

Monday marks the start of my 14th year of teaching. I've been super lucky to work with 3, 4, and 5 year old children who happen to have disabilities and who also consistently show me that they have the most amazing super powers. When I finished this painting it reminded me of a ball bouncing...and then I thought of my classroom filled with my students which at times reminds me of a whole room full of bouncing balls. Let the fun begin!

"Follow the Bouncing Ball"

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

Back to School Backpack - Part 2

So my big guy moved out of the house. My little guy moved into my big guy's room. And now my yet-to-be-painted-on canvases and sold paintings have a room of their own! And you know what? Their bed is made. Their desk is dusted. Their carpet is vacuumed. Easiest kids ever! Though I still most definitely prefer my guys.

I finished my backpack! Here are a couple of shots of the finished backpack and below are the last few painting stages.

"Back to School Backpack"

And it's functional and pretty!

I outlined all of the flowers and leaves with black
and I added some details to the petals.

A view of the other side.

I added some white...you know, for fun!

A view of the other side.

And with the leftover paint I created this!
Not sure what it will eventually become,
but it will most certainly be fun!

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

I'm running a big sale on my paintings through the end of August. Almost everything in my gallery is 60% off. I'm only keeping my most current work (paintings on page 1) at the listed prices. If there's something you'd like, please let me know by message or comment so I can manually adjust the price. Thanks!!! http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/kali-parsons-3935/artwork

Back to School Backpack - Part 1

Today all the public school teachers in town got back to work. That includes me. So wonderful seeing everyone and it got me back in the fun school mode. I've been taking an online art class and one of the assignments was to paint a pillow cover, but I decided to be a rebel and paint a backpack instead. I'd had this very boring beige canvas backpack forever. While it was utilitarian and all, it was so darn boring I never actually left the house with it. That's a lie. I did take it to the gym once. So I grabbed that backpack and started the process of turning it into something magical that I would both love and use.

This is the backpack. I meant to take a picture before I started
painting, but I forgot. I put some sheets in a trash bag and then stuffed the
bag in the backpack so the paint wouldn't run from one side to the other.

I chose a few colors of paint. The red, pink, yellow, and blue
are to make flowers. The green is for leaves. The paints
are watered down quite a bit to a milk consistency.

I started by painting basic flower shapes all over.

My cat, Pug, was a great support.

I took the stuffing out and hung it on my clothesline to dry.

I love how the colors run together and the fun drips.

Next I'll be adding black outlines and features as well as white accents. Can't wait to put it to use! This will DEFINITELY make it out of the house.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

I'm running a big sale on my paintings through the end of August. Almost everything in my gallery is 60% off. I'm only keeping my most current work (paintings on page 1) at the listed prices. If there's something you'd like, please let me know by message or comment so I can manually adjust the price. Thanks!!! http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/kali-parsons-3935/artwork

Phyllis Goes to School!

Phyllis is growing up. She went to school today for the first time ever. She put on her backpack, packed her lunch, and went to her classroom. OK, so she didn't exactly do all that, but she did go to school with me today. And Barry went to school with us, too.

I was Farmer Parsons today. I donned my overalls, put my hair in pigtails, gathered up Phyllis and Barry, and headed up to school. Barry was the first out of the carrier. She was wonderful, delightful, and a tad nervous. Phyllis came out next. And that girl calmly sat on my lap for close to thirty minutes while I talked about chickens and let more than thirty four-year-olds take turns petting her. She was in chicken heaven!

Pretty sure that when I get up in the morning Phyllis will be dressed and ready to go with me.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Happy!

I've been excited about school starting back up and I've done nothing to hide it.  Seriously, for a couple weeks now I've been ready to be back in the classroom with my amazing students (this will be my eleventh year teaching three and four-year-old children who in addition to some fantastic abilities, also have disabilities).  I love my gig. 

So I was driving with my kid and it turns out he does not share my enthusiasm for the upcoming start of the school year.


Me:  "I can't believe school's about to start!!!!"

Little guy:  "You stop saying those horrible words."


Meanwhile, I'm busy doing my happy dance.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

 

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

It must be almost back to school time...

...because the nightmares have begun.  Now you all know I LOVE my job.  It's just one of those things I do.  I did it as a kid, too.  You know, showing up to school naked or just in PJs, not knowing about the HUGE test...stuff like that.

Well, last night's had me a bit shaken when I woke up.  You see, I showed up to work for my job, which had suddenly switched from working with three and four-year-olds to working with high school students (not a slight against them, I live with one, for Pete's sake!).  And they were BIGGER than I am.  Much bigger!  And I didn't really have a classroom, more of an industrial utility closet with pipes and conduit going everywhere, steam being released at irregular intervals, very dark and creepy.  And no one had given me any info on what my individual students' goals were.  And somehow all the parents managed to be able to drop off their children yet my assistant found herself locked out.  And the only curriculum like material I could find was incomplete game sets of Chutes and Ladders and Hi-ho!  Cherry-O.  And so we played them.  And then my assistant showed up.  And then I woke up.

And all was well...whew!


P.S.  Maybe someday I will get the privilege of working with high schoolers.  But, hey, I'd really like to have a real classroom and some real supplies.  Oh, and could they please be shorter than I am?

Click here to purchase this painting.

Thanks for "liking" my blog posts!!